First approval for camping pods in Peak District National Park

This is an archived press release

The Peak District National Park’s planning committee gave its approval to an application for 10 camping pods at Crowden campsite close to the Pennine Way – the first in the national park.

Camping pods are shaped like tents but made of insulated wood and steel, with an external appearance of wooden shingles. Campers use them like tents, bringing their own cooking and sleeping gear, and these particular ones would be sheltered by trees at an existing campsite run by the Camping and Caravanning Club.

The planning committee agreed that although camping pods are not specifically referred to in their policies, they should be treated in planning terms like mini static caravans.

Though static caravans would not normally be allowed in the national park, the planners decided these pods could be made an exception, provided they were limited in size, number and location.

Committee chairman Cllr Lesley Roberts said: “The proposed pods would create relatively little intrusion on the landscape compared to caravans. They appear more akin to tents, though many modern tents can be much larger than the proposed pods and often more intrusive because of their bright colours.
“We want to encourage more recreation for people from all backgrounds in the national park and the pods would support that – particularly as they would provide economical accommodation close to the Pennine Way.”

The proposed pods would be around four metres long, 2.5 metres high and 2.4 metres wide, accessed by bark chip pathways.